Survey on fatty acid profiles of retail pasteurised cow’s milk and cow’s yogurt in Bulgaria

Assessing the consumer’s awareness of the diet-health relationship, this study presents the fatty acid composition of cow’s milk available on Bulgarian market. Over a 5-year period, 100 samples of pasteurised cow’s milk and 135 samples cow’s yogurt were analysed by gas chromatography (ISO 15885:2002). The saturated fatty acids predominated - average amount 70.1% for milk and 71.1% for yogurt. The unsaturated fatty acids proportions were 29.9% and 28.9% respectively. Seasonal variations in the fatty acid composition of milk were detected, due to feeding practices. Non-milk fat was identified in 5 yogurt samples, while all pasteurised milk samples were not adulterated. This study provides the first scientific information for fatty acid composition of cow’s milk on Bulgarian market with respect to dietary intake estimation.